Friday, March 2, 2012

The One With the Watercolor Invitations

Olivia turned one yesterday. The only thing keeping me from crying that my baby is growing up too fast is planning her birthday party. I like parties. They're fun.

For Olivia's party, I'm using teal, aqua, mint and gold for the color scheme. Mostly oceany colors with gold as an accent for a little sparkle and pizazz. Anyway, I thought some watercolor invitations would be pretty, especially after I saw these adorable cards. So I made some of my own:

Didn't they turn out so well? I love them!

They're really pretty easy to make. All you need is:

Watercolor paper

Colored pencils

Watercolors (Crayola works just fine)

Medium flat brush (a sponge brush will suffice)

Painter's tape

To begin, you need whatever design and wording you want to use. While on my party supply hunt, I found an adorable Etsy shop called A Fabulous Fete. Lauren is awesome and does beautiful calligraphy. I love pretty much everything about her little party store. So I asked her to write out the front of the card. I played around with it on Photoshop until it was in the layout I liked and then printed it.

Here's how to make the cards:

Use a colored pencil to trace your design onto watercolor paper. You can tape the design up against a window and trace it that way. Or, if you have a glass table, just put a lamp underneath it so you can trace your design. You must use colored pencils - the wax keeps the watercolor from adhering to that part of the paper, so your lettering shows up clearly. If you're working with thinner lettering, like I did, I would recommend using a a dark color so that everything turns out well. Thicker lettering lends itself better to the original idea, which is to use a white colored pencil to create negative space in your design.

Use painter's tape to secure your paper to your work area. I'm classy and used cardboard boxes.

Get your brush wet, but not too wet, and dip it in the paint. Mix the paint however you like on the paper. I used a combinations of blues, yellow and white to get the effect I wanted. Experiment until you find the look you like.

Let your paint dry for a few minutes. If the paint is too dark and the lettering is not showing up well you can use a paper towel to dab away some of the paint.

Beyond that, it's up to you. I put mine on cardstock and added the party information to the back. I would suggest setting the cards under a heavy book in order to flatten them out, since the watercolor causes the paper to warp.